Images

A sample of bastnaesite, one of the principal mineral sources of rare-earth elements. Rare-earth elements are essential components in most modern electronics.

Closeup of the Beryllium Tuff member, Spor Mountain, Utah.

USGS scientists Brian Jaskula and Robert Ayuso collecting samples at Spor Mountain, Utah.

Spor Mountain open pit; mineralized tuff in foreground; mine staff and USGS scientists collecting samples.

Cross-polarized light photomicrograph of minerals in drill core samples from the Local Boy deposit, Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The number in the upper right hand corner is the drill core number.

Cross-polarized light photomicrograph of minerals in drill core samples from the Mesaba copper-nickel deposit, Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The number in the upper right hand corner is the drill core number.

Torbernite is a copper phosphate mineral that contains uranium, making it somewhat radioactive. Although it can be used as a uranium ore, it's more valued as a collectors mineral. It can be used as a good indicator of uranium deposits, however.

Large layered nodule from the Roadside pit, Spor Mountain, Utah, showing fluorite, opal, and bertrandite mineralization. Beryllium is concentrated in the outer opal-fluorite zone; such samples can contain as much as 1-percent beryllium as bertrandite.

Cross-polarized light photomicrograph of minerals in drill core samples from the Local Boy deposit, Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The number in the upper right hand corner is the drill core number.

Scientists sampling water and measuring streamflow in Keeley Creek, a stream in northern Minnesota that is in the vicinity of copper-nickel-platinum group element deposits. 

A sample of pyrite and quartz. Iron pyrite, also known as Fool's Gold due to its resemblance to gold, often occurs in quartz veins. Pyrite is an important source of sulfur dioxide, which is primarily used to create sulfuric acid, an important industrial acid.

A sample of native gold. Gold has been treasured since ancient times for its beauty and permanence.   Most of the gold that is fabricated today goes into the manufacture of jewelry, but it also performs critical functions in computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products.

A sample of augelite and quartz. Augelite is an aluminum phosphate mineral, primarily prized for collecting rather than as a source for its industrial mineral components.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Mundo Nuevo Mine, Peru, and is 3.7cm in size.

USGS scientists gathering samples for analysis at Spor Mountain, Utah.

Overlying Spor Mountain rhyolite caprock and underlying Beryllium Tuff member. 

This is a sample of axinite with iron, making it ferroaxinite. Axinite is primarily used as a collectors mineral.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Puiva Mount, Russia, and is 3.0cm in size.

Elbaite is one of the best-known members of the tourmaline mineral family, particularly for its high-quality gemstones. Read more about the tourmaline mineral family here. 

Epidote is a silicate mineral used mostly as a semiprecious gemstone.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and is 6.0cm in size.

This sample is of the mineral cerussite, once an important source of lead for paints and pigments. With the phasing out of lead-based paints, cerussite is now mostly valued as a collectors mineral.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Mibladen, Morocco, and is 5.6cm in size.

Scanning Electron Microscope backscatter image of legacy steelmaking slag from the Calumet region, Chicago, Illinois, showing silicate minerals, some of which may have acid-neutralizing potential.

Map showing sediment-hosted copper and porphyry copper deposits across the world.